Gonzalez told the paper it wasn’t until he saw a televised photo of Djohar Tsarnaev, 19, who is still at large, that he remembered his brief encounter with the alleged killer.

"He looked like a shy kid," he said.

Tsarnaey’s brother, Tamerlan, 26, who was seen in surveillance footage in a black baseball cap, was killed overnight. The brothers are accused of setting off homemade bombs at the Boston Marathon that killed three people and injured more than 180.

Gonzalez said he was surprised there was a connection between two alleged terrorists and the largely immigrant neighborhood – mostly Latino and Irish – he lived in.

"Who would have thought it would happen nearby?" he said of the suspect's residence. "I thought this guy lived somewhere far away."